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Matthew Clarmont Interviews Steve Swanson

Wed, 01/27/2010 - 21:50 by Matthew Clarmont  

Steve Swanson: Flyweight prospect of Called Out MMASteve Swanson: Flyweight prospect of Called Out MMASteve Swanson may only be 3 wins into his MMA career, but this past Sunday at Called Out MMA II, the Riverside County native showed that a work in progress is just that: progressive. After a dominating performance in the first two rounds, he faded a bit to close out the fight but walked away the victor against Thomas Casarez at Ontario, California's Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Sibling to WEC veteran Cub Swanson, and a style that mirrors his completely, Steve got a little but of a later start to his own MMA career but seems to be no less of a force in the immediate future. His bout with Casarez resembled that of a 6 fight veteran rather than the 3 to his credit. I caught up with him after the fight to get his thoughts on his opponent and his future prospects in the flyweight division.

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Interview With Steve Miller Part 2 - Bridging The Gap

Thu, 01/14/2010 - 21:44 by Matthew Clarmont  

Steve Miller: Called Out MMA FounderSteve Miller: Called Out MMA FounderFor part two of my interview with Called Out MMA founder Steve Miller, we take a closer look at the model that the southern Califonia based promotion is instituting in their endeavor to shake up the North American MMA scene. From present philosophies to future plans, he goes into detail about his views on the sport in general as it relates to his vision and involvement. He leaves no doubt as to their ability to rise from relative obscurity to major player.

In less than a year, Steve Miller has taken a small operation that played second fiddle to a deep pocketed entity and locked up the business talent that it had, molding his own vision of what a mixed martial arts organization should be all the while. But just who are Called Out? What do they represent? Alongside the rapidly evolving areas of fan community and sports media, Miller's own vision seems to align perfectly.

Not only are the fans shifting toward the mainstream, but also the sport itself lends itself a limited but growing similarity to main stream sports media. Steve Miller hopes to play a role in the shift toward major sport acceptance with his promotion while simultaneously appealing to a broad scope of fans.

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ThrowThemBows.com EXCLUSIVE - David Hojak Interviews Round 5 MMA's Damon Lau

Fri, 03/27/2009 - 23:08 by David Hojak  
Round 5 President Damon Lau: Recently spoke with ThrowThemBows.comRound 5 President Damon Lau: Recently spoke with ThrowThemBows.comRound 5 MMA has recently announced the release of four more action figures in their Champions of MMA series, via exclusively signed deals with Mixed Martial Arts athletes in various promotions. This last week, President at Round 5 MMA, Damon Lau, sat down with David Hojak to talk about the company’s progress over the past few short months.

Round 5 exploded onto the scene last year with a strong first-showing, signing eight of the sport’s highest- profile Mixed Martial Artists to distribution deals allowing Round 5 to create caricature-stylized miniature action figures of their real-life likenesses. The UFC almost immediately thereafter made their own intentions to distribute an action-figure line known. Interestingly enough, the UFC was quick to debut “concept” action figures that in multiple instances indicated fighters who’d been signed to exclusive deals by Round 5.

Damon Lau, is a kind man who took a chance, and has run with it this far up to this point. He was happy to take some time to speak to Mr. Hojak regarding their upcoming advances, other fighters who’ve been signed to have action figures created, and what we can look forward to from Round 5 in the near future and beyond.
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ThrowThemBows.com EXCLUSIVE - David Hojak Interviews ‘Blood in the Cage’ Author, L. Jon Wertheim

Fri, 03/27/2009 - 23:02 by David Hojak  
L. Jon Wertheim's Blood in the Cage: Worth the time you'll spend on itL. Jon Wertheim's Blood in the Cage: Worth the time you'll spend on itL. Jon Wertheim has been writing about Tennis for Sports Illustrated since I was playing it in high school. He’s written about everything from tennis to basketball, to every issue that plagues sports from steroid abuse to illegitimate children. Clearly, the guy has no problems articulating sensitive and unorthodox subjects.

His book, Blood in the Cage, sums up the UFC’s meteoric uprising in the UnitedStates, then intertwines it with Pat Miletich’s story of growing up, making it to the UFC, and ultimately becoming their first Lightweight champion. He does all this in an effective, informative manner.

His retelling of the events leading up to MMA’s surge to mainstream popularity here in the states is factual, and he accounts for all involved parties as he tells the tale of not only Dana White, beginning with his interest in the organization, but Monte Cox, who was promoting MMA events all around the United States long before the UFC rose to be the MMA powerhouse they’ve become.

Jon Wertheim sat on the phone and put up with me for a good twenty minutes as I further questioned him, above and beyond the 250 pages of book he initially gave me. He talked about what it was like to spend as much time with the great Pat Miletich as he did, and other topics regarding not only the ongoing saga we know as our sport, but also its athletes and his future in writing about it.
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